JP/6/OTHS6
JP/6/OTHS6
Setting standards
To keep Malaysia's growth engines going, the country needs about a million foreign workers. To this end, MoUs have been signed with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Thailand to recruit workers.
In addition to the workers we've been getting from Indonesia and the Philippines, Malaysia is likely to see a wider cross- section of Asians working in our midst. The benefits are enormous but we should also prepare for possible social problems that can accompany such workers.
For instance, earlier this week, police in Miri had to confine Indonesian workers in their respective factories for several days after violent clashes involving the Madurese, Sambas and Javanese took place in Bintulu and Miri.
Of course, not all foreign workers will cause trouble but if their basic requirements are not met or even understood by us -- because of language problems -- we are not likely to benefit from more foreign workers in this country. Conversely, they may be exploited by unscrupulous employers if they do not know the basic laws of the country pertaining to their rights.
As such, the mandatory two-week training program for foreign workers announced by Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn will be most useful. To begin in January next year, the program for firsttime workers will help establish standards, weed out the uncertain ones and will help both the workers and their employers to understand each other's requirements and expectations.
-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur
On the continuing threat of AIDS
Advances in medicine have cut into the deadly nature of AIDS and people with HIV, but those advances are part of the reason why more education is necessary.
Experts say that new HIV cases continue to increase. And a majority of the new cases are coming from a younger segment of the population. Part of the reason, they say, is because youngsters see cases of superstars who have developed AIDS living longer, more productive lives, and they begin to think that the disease isn't the killer it once was.
They are wrong.
That is scarier for people if they are not in monogamous relationships.
Trouble is, you probably won't know if your date is HIV positive unless he or she tells you, and there is a good chance that your partner may not even know.
The state and nation have made considerable progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS. But the battle is far from over.
-- Carroll County Times, Westminster, Md.
Stepping up the war on graft
Although Malaysia is ranked 33rd out of 102 countries in the Corruption Perception Index compiled by Transparency International, this is not a level which the country should be comfortable with. The Prime Minister has made the war on graft a top priority since his first day in office, and has backed his strong words with specific actions in a short space of time from the announcement of the formation of a National Institute for Public Ethics and the development of a National Integrity Plan to the recent anti-corruption academy.
As a signatory to the UN anticorruption convention, Malaysia is committing itself to the international standards of integrity and good governance that it sets. Steps are also being taken to develop the capacity of the Anti-Corruption Agency so that it can do its work more effectively.
According to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, the key reason for failure in the fight against corruption in East Africa has been the lack of political will. Transparency International has cited a strong resolve by governments as the critical factor behind the success of the anti-graft battle in countries such as Hong Kong. The firmness of purpose shown by the Prime Minister indicates that such a political will is not lacking. However, no single individual or government can wipe out corruption without the commitment and support from all sectors of society. Corruption is not just an ethical issue.
As the Prime Minister said, it also "interferes with the smooth running of the Government, interferes with the implementation of things we want to do, and creates problems in the public delivery system. It creates a bad name for the Government and for Malaysia and it just makes life difficult." This is why all Malaysians need to join the Prime Minister in his fight against corruption. The consequences of losing this war would be too heavy to bear.
-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur
HIV/AIDS drug plans
The anti-retroviral plan for HIV/AIDS sufferers is at last beginning to emerge from the sleight of hand maze that has too often characterized South Africa's official response to the epidemic. However, there are a number of consequences that need to be considered to balance the euphoria.
Although one of the legs of the plan is stepping up prevention, there is a huge danger that in the popular imagination what is no more than a palliative is being perceived as a cure, and that this will undo much of the excellent work done by existing HIV/AIDS awareness programs, particularly by agencies such as Soul City and loveLife.
Although the two programs differ in approach, both are contributing to the revitalization of a positive youth culture in South Africa. The health authorities -- and the media -- should take great care to ensure that the right message concerning the anti-retroviral plan is consistently delivered. The impression must never be created that the popping of a few pills is a realistic alternative to the painstaking prevention work that is beginning to lead an otherwise deflated post-struggle generation into a new era of self-belief and hope in the future, of mutual respect between the genders and of responsible sexual behavior.
-- The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld can be criticized for a lot of things. But the U.S. defense secretary's use of English is not one of them. The Plain English Campaign has shot itself in the foot this week by giving Rumsfeld its annual Foot in Mouth award for this comment, delivered at a press conference earlier in the year:
"Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me," Rumsfeld said, "because, as we know, there are known knowns, there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."
This is indeed a complex, almost Kantian, thought. It needs a little concentration to follow it. Yet it is anything but foolish. It is also perfectly clear. It is expressed in admirably plain English, with not a word of jargon or gobbledygook in it. A Cambridge literary theorist, U.S. Air Force war gamer or Treasury tax law draftsman would be sacked for producing such a useful thought so simply expressed in good Anglo-Saxon words. So let Rummy be. The Plain English Campaign should find itself a more deserving target for its misplaced mockery.
-- The Guardian, London
President Bush's visit to Iraq
The American troops were pleasantly surprised, of course, to see their Commander in Chief suddenly in their midst. There is little doubt that the visit will serve as a morale booster for them in a battlefield where their mission is still far from being accomplished.
For the Iraqis, however, the visit will carry a mixed message. That the first American president ever to visit their country should have done so under the cover of darkness and left hurriedly to avoid the thugs and assassins to whom he referred in his speech, merely underscored the abnormality of the scene in Iraq. Arguably, it can be said to have become worse considering that no such secrecy shrouded the earlier visits of Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Even as Bush flitted in and out of Iraq, Democratic Party Senator Hillary Clinton was in Afghanistan, another terrorist hot spot, in a well-publicized visit.
If Bush's visit to Great Britain was meant to show that the U.S. was not without friends in the world, the objective of the Iraq visit apart from demonstrating his own commitment was to thank the soldiers, many of whom may be wondering what they are doing in a faraway country. Unless the conditions improve, however, the visit will be no more than a flash in the pan.
-- The Hindustan Times, Delhi, India
Pakistan-India cease-fire
When Pakistan made the cease-fire offer on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr and India responded positively to it, we thought that the developments augured well for peace negotiations.
However, Wednesday's rejection of the cease-fire by the rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin, is bound to thwart progress toward restoration of normalcy in Kashmir, especially in the tense border areas.
What is necessary is nothing less than major surgery. The Hizbul says that the situation inside Indian-administered Kashmir is "tense and the struggle will continue with full force." One reason for the groups frustration could be the security fence being built by the Indians along the Line of Control, which will separate relatives and friends in an already divided province.
But no matter how well founded the apprehensions of the fence's critics, the rebels and their political backers who oppose the cease-fire should give the deal a chance. For, above all, the cease-fire benefits ordinary Kashmiris, who can now more freely venture out of their homes, whether to visit relatives and friends or to pray. In short, it has given them a taste of normal life after years of continual tension and bloodshed.
-- Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
U.S. trade barriers
U.S. trade actions are sending the wrong message. If the United States continues its present trade policy, it will become even more isolated in its diplomatic and security policy, and the aim of containing terror that the international community seeks will recede further into the background.
The United States maintains that imports of steel products threaten the domestic industry. But the real problem lies with the American steel industry, where many manufacturers operate obsolete plants and machinery and have little competitive edge in either domestic or foreign markets. Even in the United States, many viewed the safeguard measure as purely a vote-getting expedient in the run-up to the midterm election in the fall of 2002 and said it went against the principle of free trade.
The United States should lift its restrictions on imports. It must decide to either have uncompetitive businesses make a graceful exit from the market or grope for ways to revive them under recognized international ground rules -- which is what the United States has always advocated.
-- The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo
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Erie Times-News, Erie, Pennsylvania, on steel tariffs:
The Bush administration has apparently decided to repeal most of its 20-month-old tariffs on imported steel. Pennsylvania industry welcomed those tariffs and will regret seeing them vanish. But the political reality is, Bush has no choice. And politics will dictate that the administration disguise this defeat for the Rust Belt states as a victory for industry "restructuring." ...
The World Trade Organization had declared the tariffs illegal under U.S. commercial treaties. That cleared the way for a trade war. European nations threatened to retaliate against American products if Bush did not drop the steel tariffs. Japan joined the European chorus. The Europeans and Japanese targeted $2.2 billion in American products carefully -- the states Bush will need to win the presidency in 2004 produce them. They include citrus products, motorcycles, farm machinery, textiles, shoes and nuts. California and Florida would have suffered severely. Bush could use the electoral votes of both states, especially Florida's. Bush lost Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2000. The repeal will hurt him in Pennsylvania, but help him in Michigan.
Bush's aides "agonized" over the choice. It is easy to see why. Whatever he does, Bush risks offending critical voter blocs. He stands to gain more than he loses if he ends the tariffs. ...
Politics is shot through this story. The imposition of the tariffs, the exemptions granted from them, the tactics adopted by the Europeans and Japanese, and the tariff repeal have been dictated by politics. Indeed, they have been dictated by electoral politics.
That is nothing new, but politics has short-term goals. But the problems of the Rust Belt and indeed America's future demand thinking beyond the next election cycle. ---
News Chief, Winter Haven, Florida, on the release of detainees in Guantanamo:
The Bush administration is finally beginning to resolve the fate of the prisoners held in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It is overdue.
Published accounts say that more than 100 -- one account says 140 -- will be released in December and January to their home countries. ...
The administration has insisted that neither U.S. laws nor international treaties, such as those governing prisoners of war, apply to the detainees, and it has asserted its right to hold them indefinitely and largely incommunicado.
That assertion has outraged world opinion and badly damaged the United States' reputation as an upholder of the rule of law and a champion of due process. Many of the prisoners, most of them captured in Afghanistan, have been in custody since January 2002...
The Supreme Court just recently agreed to hear an appeal on behalf of 16 of the detainees- two Britons, two Australians and 12 Kuwaitis- seeking the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. If the court finds for the detainees, the administration will lose its rationale for running Guantanamo as it does. --- The Daily Leader, Brookhaven, Mississippi, on President Bush in Iraq:
It was so secret that even his parents did not find out until he failed to show up for Thanksgiving dinner. President George Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad Thursday morning caught the world by surprise.
Considering that just days ago a cargo plane flying into Baghdad was struck by a shoulder-fired missile, it was a gutsy move by the President and one that should lift the spirits of a nation beginning to have second thoughts about a war being fought half-a-world away.
A calculated risk, the President flew for eight hours, landed at Baghdad International Airport and spent two and a half hours serving food and mixing with troops before returning home.
Surprised soldiers gave praise to Bush.
"It was a display of confidence in our ability to protect not just us, but him," said one soldier.
"My morale had kind of sputtered, now I'm good for another two months," said another.
When times get tough, a good leader takes risk and rallies the troops.
While his opponents will undoubtedly call it a political stunt, in reality he was doing what he has done all along -- provide good strong leadership. ---
GetAP 1.00 -- DEC 5, 2003 01:41:03 ;AP; ANPA ..r.. NA-GEN--Editorial Roundup By The Associated Press= JP/
By The Associated Press= A selection of excerpts from editorials in newspapers worldwide: ---
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Irish Independent, Dublin, Ireland, on elections in Northern Ireland:
Last week's results in the Assembly elections show how far Northern Ireland has come since the bleak days of the mid- Eighties, when the IRA was engaged in its murderous campaign to achieve Irish unity through violent means. ... The change, however, is disappointing, disturbing and ominous.
Disappointing because those who risked most (the SDLP and the UUP) to make a success of the Agreement have little to show from these results but a measure of public contempt for their heroic efforts.
Disturbing because those who have gained most in last week's election have given least in ensuring the success of the Good Friday accord. The DUP opposed the Agreement, but accepted ministerial office in the Executive. ...
Above all, the result is ominous because it has produced a dangerous political stalemate, one which will not be easily resolved. ...
The two parties least capable of political compromise have become the dominant parties of unionism and nationalism in Northern Ireland. Much of what the Good Friday Agreement was designed to prevent, the polarization of politics, has just happened. --- MORE[
GetAP 1.00 -- DEC 5, 2003 01:40:57